UPDATE: Homewood owner wants decision

On Dec. 9, the Loomis Town Council voted to continue the discussion of a development agreement between the town and Homewood Lumber to 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 15, at the Loomis Depot.
The council discussed a number of details in the proposed resolution, which would substitute or modify mitigation measures, but there were still areas of the draft development agreement that needed to be worked out between town staff and Hamid Noorani, owner of Homewood Lumber.
Homewood Lumber purchased the property on the corner of Sierra College Boulevard and Brace Road in order to relocate their business. The development agreement would shift responsibility from Homewood to the town for road improvement fees and the planting and maintenance of trees as part of the tree mitigation.
For more information, contact town staff at 652-1840.
Dec. 11, 2008 issue: Homewood owner wants decision
Homewood Lumber owner Hamid Noorani has reached the end of his rope with the Loomis Town Council and has said he is ready to sever it if the council fails to make a decision on the development agreement for his relocation.
Noorani addressed the council at their Nov. 12 meeting telling them that he had been patient and cooperative, but he needed to make a decision as to whether to stay in Loomis or relocate to another area.
“This is quid pro quo. It’s naïve to think a single meeting will solve it. We could still be debating this a year from now. It has to come to an end, and for me, this is tonight,” Noorani said.
He said that the City of Rocklin had contacted him and told him they had some good locations available and they reminded him they have no tree mitigation.
The City of Rocklin also sent a last-minute objection to the town’s development agreement because it “would eliminate the project’s requirement to pay the Town of Loomis road circulation/major road fee” and because the “City of Rocklin disagrees with the Town’s justification for not assessing the road circulation/major road fee.”
Councilman Walt Scherer’s initial comment to the Rocklin letter of objection, which was e-mailed at 4:47 p.m. and faxed at 4:36 p.m. on the evening of the meeting, was that “they waited until the last minute to sandbag us.”
Councilman Miguel Ucovich said Loomis should “act as a good neighbor and listen to what they have to say.”
During discussion, Scherer said, “Our obligation as a good neighbor is to see if we can work these (Rocklin’s objections) out. Nothing they put in here is difficult or insurmountable.”
Town Manager Perry Beck told the council he wanted to “confer with special counsel” on the Rocklin letter.
The Town council voted to continue the matter to later in November, but due to a lack of information, no meeting was held and the item was re-noticed to be heard at the Dec. 9 meeting.
On Nov. 18, the Town of Loomis received a letter from attorneys representing Rocklin Crossings, LLC (Donahue Schriber), owner and developer of the proposed Rocklin Crossings project in Rocklin that also objected to the development agreement.
The Town of Loomis had objected to the Rocklin Planning Commission approval of the Rocklin Crossings project claiming their Environmental Impact Report was flawed. The Rocklin council approved the project with minor revisions at their Nov. 25 meeting.
Beck said the council would review a development agreement between the town and Homewood Lumber that did not have any changes, but according to Beck “spells everything out” and includes the results of findings. The agreement “clearly states how everything is being done.” Beck said it is much more specific and answers many of the questions asked by the public and council members.
For an update on any council action on the Homewood project during their Dec. 9 meeting, visit Theloomisnews.com.